This Background is intended to provide the basic context of this patent application and it is not intended to describe a specific problem to be solved.
Packaging used for containment of liquids can generate large amounts of waste. In some cases, packaging used for containing liquids or lids for capping liquid containers/vessels may be recycled. More recently, it has become common to use bottles and lids made from plastics, such as PET or HDPE, for liquid such as water, juice, carbonated drinks, or milk. In this case, it is common for the bottles or lids to be formed from virgin, i.e. non-recycled, material to ensure that the liquid contained within the bottle is not contaminated as could be the case if the containers were formed from recycled material. While the material itself could be recycled if separated from other waste, as with glass bottles this frequently does not occur due to the need for the waste producer, such as a householder, to separate the containers from other waste material. Again, if the container or lids is disposed of in a landfill site or the like, the bottle or lids is not biodegradable.
It has also been proposed to package and cap liquid in laminated cardboard containers, for example in containers marketed by Tetra Pak. In this case, the cardboard from which the body of the container is formed may be virgin or recycled material. The cardboard is laminated with a waterproof coating. This ensures that the container is able to hold liquid and also acts as a barrier between the liquid and the cardboard, which can prevent contamination of the liquid from the cardboard. This is especially needed where the cardboard is formed from recycled material A problem with such packages is that they are difficult to recycle, and the waterproof coating prevents them fully decomposing.
Manufacturing a biodegradable release-ably connectable lid has long been a challenge. Forming a channel using biodegradable material which does not unacceptably degrade, deform or discolor when in contact with hot liquid such as coffee has been thought to be impossible. By creating a slurry, forming it in a mold under a vacuum, a channel may be created in the lid which can be release-ably connected to a traditional rolled lip coffee cup, among other common liquid holding vessels but be made out of biodegradable material.